Your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness

For many people and businesses the first place to start examining themselves is to perform a S.W.O.T analysis. The write down their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This then helps identify what needs improvement and what can be taken advantage of.

What many probably don’t realize is that some of your greatest strengths can also be your greatest weaknesses. Sound strange well consider this. A person who is determined and disciplined to overcome challenges and adversity may also be accused of being stubborn and pigheaded. It is very likely that people with these qualities can find themselves missing opportunities because they aren’t open to change or new ideas. Probably for most strengths that you could name about yourself or your business, if you thought hard and long enough about them I’m sure you could identify where they may also contribute to weaknesses.

For example one of the great strengths of a business like IBM was its size. It had a huge market share and a massive salesforce but in the end its size turned out to be its undoing. It wasn’t fast enough to see the revolution that happened in personal computers. It allowed a more nimble upstart, like Compaq, to jump into the void and take market share and opportunity away from it. Another example would be Lotus or Wordperfect. Effectively these companies had a 100% market share of the spreadsheet and word processing market. Where are they today ? Confined to being also rans with market share in single digits and falling. How could any business with 100% market share allow this to happen ? They sat back, relying on their strengths to carry them through, they didn’t continue to work and improve, they became arrogant. The reasons are many and varied, however it is clear that their greatest strength also became their greatest weakness.

So does this mean that we only have weaknesses ? No, because the strengths are there they just need one important factor to ensure they don’t turn into weaknesses. What is this ? Well, it is no secret, we have talked about it before. It is BALANCE. If you lose the balance of your strengths then they run risk of becoming weaknesses. You should now see that we are almost back where we started this discussion. We are back talking about BALANCE and from there we move onlto CONTROL and so on.

As I have said, it isn’t anything mystic or hidden. As they say it is just the “circle of life”. They key to improvement is to keep working on it, when it comes around again ( and it will ) take some time and continue to improve it. There is very little chance that you’ll get something right the first time, the secret is probably to do the best you can, put it aside and work on the next thing. When the challenge arises again it should now be a bit easier and you have learnt more that can help improve it this time. So you work at it a little more, put it away and so. I like to think of it as working on a great sculpture. You know the final result is in the block of granite, it is just hidden. The challenge is to chip away and reveal the result that only you know is there.

This is how it progresses. It doesn’t make sense to fight it, although many people do. Like it or hate it, that’s life.

One thing that you can’t control

The one thing that most people don’t have enough of these days is time. Why is that ? Is there that much more that needs doing ? Are we so pressed that we need to clone ourselves to get all the work done ? Somehow I don’t really think so. I agree that there are plenty more demands on our time these days but it all comes down to how we choose to manage it and where we choose to send it.

The one constant thing about time is that it marches relentlessly on. If we waste a second then it is gone for eternity, never to return. Clearly, time is one of our most precious resources and something that we have little control over. Also, clearly, it is impossible to achieve everything that we want to in the time we have, once you take out the essentials like eat, sleeping and toilet breaks. One of the major differences between highly successful people and those merely successful is their management of time. These people recognized a long time ago that they couldn’t control time, the best they could aim for is to be as efficient as possible as they can with time.

A very interesting experiment is to keep track of exactly what you spend your time on during a day. If you want to become more efficient in your business keep track of exactly what you spend you time on for at least a week. After you have recorded all this information go through the list and allocate each activity into high, medium and low value activities. Have a look at how much time you probably spend on low leve activities, such as reading and responding to emails, browsing the web, chatting and so on. To become more efficent you are going to have to eliminate these low value activities to make room for the high value ones.

Note, I didn’t say add more items, I said eliminate items. Why ? Well most business owners probably already have their dance card full. Instead of looking at the value of the tasks they perform they simply add “one more” item, then “one more” item and so on. Not only does each new item affect the outcome of all the items the person is already balancing it generally overloads them. It may sound strange but the secret to becoming more efficient for most business people is to actually do less.

In business, especially self-employed business, we need to be ruthless with our time and focus on the items that are going to earn us the most return. Unfortunately, too many people spend too much of their time in low value tasks that should be eliminated or at best delegated to someone else. The problem for the business person is letting go. Most become so addicted to teh feeling of having the whole business depending on them and having the power of being in total control that they can’t for a moment release control. The problem here is that in fact these people are not in control, they are out of control. If they were to get sick or stop doing the work for any reason, then the business would stop. when you look at it that way, who is control ? As Michael Gerber says, if you are like this then you don’t have a business you have a glorified job.

As with most things the secret to being efficient with your time is not some expensive time management system that only helps you crowd more onto your dance card, it is a discipline of continually working to do high value activities while eliminiating or minimizing the lower value ones. The first step in the process is to actually sit down and record exactly what you are spending your time on. If you never take the time to look at your self and improve you never will. It is as simple as that.

How to grow your business by taking 3 months off

This book by Louise Woodbury and William De Ora is a worthwhile edition to any small business managers library. It is based very much along the lines of the E-Myth by Michael Gerber but has a number of improvements in my opinion. Firstly, unlike Gerber, it starts out with a single goal in mind. Gerber’s book is great, telling you to get everything systemized and so on but what for ? Just to make more money ? I think that this book’s objective is far more relevant to Australian small business owners.

The second thing is that the book is written by Australian’s. Many good ideas and books come from the US but there are still significant differences in the culture between Australian and US small businesses, so coming from an Australian perspective is a bonus. The book also goes beyond what Gerber covers, extending into areas such as financial management and marketing. In some cases this may make the book too long for small business owners pressed for time and in some places I found the book to drag a bit but generally they were few and far between. If there was a flat spot it wasn’t long until something “peppier” came along.

The follows the struggles of a business owning couple who have been in business over ten years and who have lost their “spark” and are simply trudging through their day feeling trapped by the business they started all those years ago to free them from the cages of being employees. The ability to take three months off from your business to enjoy a break has two fold benefits. Firstly, it lets those owners who are burning out a chance to unwind and recharge their batteries. Even more importantly, it makes the business owners put in place systems and people ( al la Gerber ) so that the business will continue to run in their absence.

I feel this book is more relevant to businesses here in Australia than Gerber’s because it actually focuses on a goal the business owners can aim for as well as providing definative steps as to what needs to be put in place for this to happen. As I said previously , the book is written very much in the Gerber style as a story between all the major players. This I admit can get a little tedious at times but then you do have to remember that not everyone has read Gerber and this writing style will probably appeal to a lot of small business owners who don’t really read for relaxation.

All in all a very worthwhile read and I would recommend it to any small business owner, whether or not they have read Gerber. There were plenty of points that made me sit up and pay attention as well as challenging my thinking on a number of issues. Any book that does this is certainly worth the investment of reading.

Rating = 7 out of 10

What I think all the self help stuff misses

So you’ve read all the business self help books you can find. You got all these really great ideas about how to improve your business and your life but you still feel something is missing. I couldn’t agree with you more. What is that something? I believe that it is simply – Personal Health.

Scientific studies show that the fitter you are the better your body is able to cope, the better your stamina and that you generally lead a much better life. Unfortunately, the trend in today’s Western society is definitely the opposite. We spend more and more time sitting in front of computer screens during the day and TV screens at night. It is well documented that today’s society is getting fatter and fatter with demands for ‘fast food’ growing.

Personal health and fitness is not just a passing fad that you do for a while it must become part of your life. Why do most diets fail? Because they are only for a very short period of time. Once you come off a diet what happens? Usually you stack on the pounds plus a few more for good measure. Why? Well if your body is cruising along for a number of years on a certain intake and style of food then it gets used to it ( you call this conditioning ). Then all of a sudden your make a radical change and don’t eat as much what happens? Well, the body is smart, it starts converting more food into stored energy ( ie fat ) until the previous eating pattern returns. When you end the diet the body doesn’t know that and keeps storing more enegy until it recognizes the diet is finally over.

It takes about 6 months for you body to actually realize “Oh, I see, you are doing things differently, I’ll have to adjust”. so any change you want to make is going to take about 6 months before it starts showing any results. The problem is that the most effort required for change is always required up front. Unfortunately, we can’t say “Hey, can I pay for this change with set payments over a few years?”. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. This is reason most people fail to make change, they aren’t committed to the significant up front charge.

If you want to improve your business, I think the first thing is to take a look at yourself. Am I eating right? Am I getting enough rest? Am I exercising enough? Do I spend time away from the business releaxing and recharging? Most business owners would probably just laugh at these ideas and say that to be successful you can’t afford any of these. Well I hate to tell you that if you get sick you probably won’t have a business because the whole thing depends on you. Generally, no work, no money is the tune for most small businesses.

Improving your personal health will allow you to do more, work harder when required and bounce back but best of all it will lead to an improved life. Isn’t that what we are all striving for? What the hell are you doing if you aren’t about improving your life?

Now don’t get me wrong you don’t have to go out and start running a marathon tomorrow morning at 6am. The secret to achieveing anything is small incremental improvements. As I have said before if you are going to climb a ladder you take it one rung at a time, you don’t try and jump seven or eight at a time. The challenge is to develop the discipline to not only make these changes in your life but to stick at them. Remember – anything worthwhile requires sacrifice.

Being different

The older we get the more set in our ways we become. The more unlikely we are to try something outside the box, so to speak. This can prove to be a very limiting factor. How many times have you thought – “Geeze, I wish I’d thought of that”. Chances are, you probably could of if only you’d been able to think outside the square.

How can you avoid getting into a rut? Well, unfortunately you have to do things that aren’t comfortable and most likely you also don’t really like doing. For example, if you like reading spy novels then maybe reading something like a western. You probably feel that you wouldn’t like it but how do you know until you try? My grandfather used to to tell me that unless I tried some of the things that were put on my plate at dinner time I’d never know whether I liked them. Now, probably most of the things I didn’t like but I will admit that were things that I did like. Limiting yourself to what “you think” is good can become very constraining and resticts you ability to grow.

Working outside your comfort zone and trying something new can also greatly increase your flexability as well as you knowledge. The hard thing is making this fun and challenging ourselves to do it on a regular basis. It is far to difficult to fall back into our usual comfortable habits when we are not paying attention. I heard someone once say that the different between someone who is good at something and someone who is great at something is that someone who is great at something practices what they are bad at. Anybody can practice what they are good.

The real challenge is to have the discipline to push ourselves outside our comfort zone and try something new. Too many times fear of failure or other people’s opinions hold us back. As anyone can tell you, you don’t know what you can achieve until you put your mind to it.

Confidence

Probably one of the most powerful tools that you can develop to help you anywhere is confidence. We all know those people who are able to remain confident even when things aren’t going their way. As the proverb says, “As you think, so it will be”. Confidence goes beyond just thinking positively in my book it is about really believing, rather than merely thinking.

It is still strange how such a simple thing like confidence can be so hard to achieve. So many aspects of our lives today abound in their ability to destroy our confidence. Typically, we take these things on board ourselves and use them against others ( albeit unknowingly most of the time ) in an effort to break their confidence. “Why should they be confident if I can’t?” would be the catch cry. Basically, you’re saying that it is too hard for your to change yourself but much easier to throw stones at someone else.

Confidence, like most things worth attaining, is not something that can’t be gained over night. It needs to be worked on, nurtured and as I have said previously – you have to keep training. Changing a human being’s mindset is probably one of the hardest challenges we face. Why? Look at the state of our World. It is still filled with violence, wars and injustice to name but a few examples. We all have the power to change these yet in many cases we let them continue. We lack the confidence to stand up and let other know that something should be done to help others, unselfishly. Why? Because we are too afraid of what others might say. Confidence is being able to stand by your principles and yet be ready to admit, when the time comes ( and it will ), that you were wrong. It takes confidence to gracefully acknowledge that youhave learned something and that rather than weakening you it has actually made your stronger.

We hear it so many times but largely ignore the statement “life is too short” until it is almost too late to do anything about it. A great statement I heard recently was – “imagine what you could achieve if you weren’t afraid”. The ability to overcome the fear that constrains our lives is confidence but like any muscle (physical or psychological) in the body we need to exercise it.

What it takes to be great

Have just finished reading a very interesting article in Fortune Magazine titled “What it takes to be great”. It basically says that being great has nothing to do with natural talent, it has to do with a steely determine to improve and continue to improve. Interestingly, the article says that most people don’t achieve greatness for at least 10 years! This means at least 10 years of hard work but not simply going out and practicing but by setting distinct goals and measuring the improve at every opportunity.

The reality of being “great” come down to one simple thing – practice. The more you practice the more you improve. The reason that there are so few people who area “great” come down to the fact that most people give up way too early. It is that special individual that sets and goal and keeps working towards it no matter what. It is interesting to find that people who are considered great come all different fields and walks of life but when it comes down to it they all say the same thing – there is no substitute for hard work.

A wise man once told me “there is no end to training” and likewise the answer to every question is “train more”. Try it and see what I mean.

Question – “I’m overweight, how can I lose weigh?” Answer – “Train more”
Question – “How can I get a better job?” Answer – “Train more”
Question – “My partner left me, what can I d?” Answer – “Train more”

You’d be surprised at how such a simple answer can prove to be the solution for every question. The problem is putting it into action.

But now you know the answer! Being great isn’t about have a special gift it is about continuing to work damm hard from this point on to achieve what you want. There is nothing stopping you but yourself. But as the Fortune article shows, although the answer is simple not many chose to take it up. What will you decide to do?

Like I have said before, it is as simple as compund interest, small amounts invested over long periods od time yield major returns. Nothing could be simplier right? So why is it no-one does it?

New Year’s resolutions

So it is that time of year, when though move from the holidays to resolutions for the year ahead. Are you a person who makes New Year’s resolutions or not? More importantly, are you someone who keeps the resolutions or who by the second of January is already regretting promises made in haste?

Know what? It doesn’t matter. Why? Because, every day should be like New Year. We need a complete range of goals, short, medium and long term but importantly we must set goals that belong to US. We also probably need to realise that we are also likley to experience a complete range of outcomes of oru goals from total success to total failure. We need to confidence to live with the results and the fortitude to keep working on those goals that haven’t achieved the results we desire.

The only limiting factor that we place on our outsome are those imposed by our own minds. Nothing can be truer than the saying that “we are limited only by ourlseves” and “if we believe in something strongly enough it will materialize”. Sure, this isn’t always easy to do. If it was then everyone would be achieving everything they desired and we would live in a prefect world. Of course we all know that this is far from the case don’t we?

The secret about New Year’s resolutions in not actually making them or even keeping them but having the courage to make decisions that will truely improve our lives and then to continue to work on them until they come to fruition. As I have said before here, anything worthwhile require sacrifice. The only question that you need to answer is whether the result is truely worth the price, if it is down the torpedos and go for it. Life is too short.